Hawk Herald
News and Notes for Teachers- Dec 4
Dear Staff
Heading into another full week of learning. We have academic seminar again this week. We will continue with our work on backwards planning with your departments. Our most impacted students are finding it more challenging to self-regulate these days before the Winter Break. Let's show our presence in the hallways and be the calm examples we wish for them. Thanks for your consistent engaging lessons. Our kids need that.
Have a great week!
Mary
Play-The Bologna, The Pickle, the Zombies and.......
7:00-8:30
Academic Seminar-Wed 7:50
Please fill out the feedback form from Module 2
Science and SS observations
Tardy Sweeps
Student Talk
Staff Party
Friday 4:00
Meetings and Events
Monday-4 Check your advisory calendar
- HEA rep meeting
- ELD meeting 1:30
Tuesday-5 Mary out at meetings
- Team Meetings-Cooper hawks and Red-tails Pod 4(Counselors)
Wednesday-6
- Academic Seminar 7:50
- Attendance 10:10
Thursday-7
- Team Meetings-Sparrow hawks and Royal hawks pod 1(admin)
- Play 7:00pm
Friday-8
- SST
- Staff Party 4:00
- Play 7:00
The Power of Our Words-Paula Denton
Teacher language influences students' identities as learners.
Think back to your childhood and recall the voices of your teachers. What kinds of words did they use? What tone of voice? Recall how you felt around those teachers. Safe and motivated to learn? Or self-doubting, insecure, even angry?
Teacher language—what we say to students and how we say it—is one of our most powerful teaching tools. It permeates every aspect of teaching. We cannot teach a lesson, welcome a student into the room, or handle a classroom conflict without using words. Our language can lift students to their highest potential or tear them down. It can help them build positive relationships or encourage discord and distrust. It shapes how students think and act and, ultimately, how they learn.
How Language Shapes Learners
From my 25 years of teaching and my research on language use, I've learned that language actually shapesthoughts, feelings, and experiences. (Vygotsky, 1978). Our words shape students as learners by
- Affecting students' sense of identity. Five-year-old Don loves to sing but isn't good at it—yet. His music teacher says, "Let's have you move to the back row and try just mouthing the words." Such language can lead Don to believe not only that he is a bad singer, but also that he will always be a bad singer. But suppose the teacher says, "Don, you really love to sing, don't you? Would you like to learn more about it? I have some ideas." Such words support Don's budding identity as one who loves to sing and is learning singing skills.
- Helping students understand how they work and play. For example, an educator might comment on a student's writing by saying, "These juicy adjectives here give me a wonderful sense of how your character looks and feels." Naming a specific attribute—the use of adjectives—alerts the writer to an important strength in her writing and encourages her to build on that strength.
- Influencing our relationships with students. To a student who—once again—argued with classmates at recess, we might say either "Emory, if you don't stop it, no more recess!" or "Emory, I saw you arguing with Douglas and Stephen. Can you help me understand what happened from your point of view?" The former would reinforce a teacher-student relationship based on teacher threats and student defensiveness, whereas the latter would begin to build a teacher-student relationship based on trust.
......to be continued
The article is longer so I am sending it out in manageable chunks.
South Meadows Middle School
Email: mendezm@hsd.k12.or.us
Website: http://schools.hsd.k12.or.us/southmeadows
Location: 4690 Southeast Davis Road, Hillsboro, OR, United States
Phone: 503-844-1220
Facebook: facebook.com/SouthMeadowsMiddleSchool